Keres leaned awkwardly close to Fèi Míng. His chin hovered inches away.
The heat from his breath brushed Fèi Míng's cheek, annoyingly warm.
"So, Fateless, hmm? That's a really symbolic name." His grin spread even wider. "Here's the weird thing…"
Fèi Míng planted his palm on Keres' chest and pushed. Nothing happened. The idiot was as stiff and hard as a rock. "Have you… ugh… learned nothing about personal space? I can feel your fucking breath on my face."
Keres ignored him. "Last time, I saw a faint glimmer of red in your dark eyes,' he muttered, tilting his head, his pins jingling across his shirt.
"And the weird thing is… when you won, you weren't granted a Path. Not even a public message about a new skill. Which means… Ha!" He snapped his fingers. "You already have a Path!"
"I don't."
"You don't?" Keres blinked. His brows squeezed together while he scratched the side of his head. "Huh. Are you one of those unlucky dudes who pissed a god off without trying? Yeah, I see why your name is Fat—"
He paused when he saw something shift across Fèi Míng's expression. A very small change around his eyes that almost mimicked hurt?
"My bad." Keres raised both hands in surrender.
"I.. uhh.. got carried away. Anyway—!" He hopped backward. "If you ever want to hang with a charming cute guy like me, I'll either be at the Citadel gate or…" he winked, "…Qing's brothel. My other cousin works there. Real sweet lady. You'll love her."
He spun, skipped toward the cracked exit, and slapped his palm against the broken stone.
"See you later. Don't hide your hobby! I wear mine on my sleeve! Bye!"
FLASH.
He vanished.
Engulfed in silence, Fèi Míng remained in place. His tongue pressed flat against his palate while his jaw ticked. 'Death expressions are a hobby of mine. If he noticed the faint red in my eye, he's sure to notice that too. Even when I hide it well. I didn't smile when someone died at the puppet show game, did I?'
His gaze lowered to his palm.
'How many cores have I absorbed already?'
Ding!
His system notification screen opened before him.
[Total Cores Absorbed: 6.]
[Absorb More Cores To Reach The First Equivalent.]
His fingers curled slowly. 'First equivalent… and still no explanation. How many do I need to eat before I hit that point? I don't have much time to waste.'
He turned away from the deserted carnival ground and walked toward the broken building exit.
His palm pressed against the debris.
The wall glowed with faint light.
FLASH!
Everything dissolved away into a shadow of smoke.
The next second, he was back into the story-building he had snuck into. His boots scraped against a dust-coated concrete floor as his body lurched forward, knees flexing automatically to absorb the sudden return of weight. The cold, musty air hitting his face.
Looking straight ahead, he saw the building exit.
Fèi Míng strode towards the door, he reached for the handle and pulled.
The door creaked open.
As the light rushed in, sharp and sudden, it forced his eyes to narrow. The outside world came into view.
The sound of distant carts, people muttering, and fabric rustling washed into his ears one after the other.
Sighing, he tried walking out unnoticed. If anyone were to see him and recognize him as a non Towner, he'd be reported and thrown behind bars.
'If only I didn't steal the tickets for this gray zone. Such a headache.'
Then—
"Halt!" echoed a loud terrifying voice.
His head whipped to the side.
Men.
A full squad marched toward him in formation, dressed in thick black armor strapped across their torsos. Their polished swords angled forward at him.
'Soldiers?' His brows tightened. 'The Krats?'
The one in front raised a gloved hand. His voice louder as he spoke:
"There is a young man named Shēng Fèi Míng, wanted for murder.. And you matched the description." The man raised a wanted poster with a rough sketch of his face. "State your identity."
Their attention fixed directly on him.
Fèi Míng stared back. Just for one breath.
"Shit," he cursed.
Then he swiftly turned, flexing his legs, and ran.
"Hey! Stop!!!"
His foot smashed into the ground. He shot forward, sprinting. The street stretched ahead of him as every soldier behind him roared orders at once.
"We found him! He's the killer of the great Lu Yuan's father! Get him! Don't let him escape!"
Many voices shouted orders he did not bother to parse, running after him in a cat and mouse chase.
Fèi Míng's breath stayed measured even as his legs burned, body angling through narrow alleys and collapsing walkways until he spotted a break in the wall ahead.
He slipped through it and dropped down into a lower level where the air turned damp and sour.
The place barely qualified as housing. A row of cramped underground rooms sat half-sunk into a gutter, their entrances carved into cracked concrete, doors patched with weathered wood as the water trickled along the floor in thin streams, carrying filth toward a clogged drain.
He forced one door open and stepped inside, pulling it shut behind him.
Only after the sounds of pursuit dulled did he exhale.
He leaned his back against the wall.
Running may have been a mistake.
'But there was no other choice. If the Krats are on my neck with a shitty bounty, I'm fucked if I get caught. This is annoying.'
He pushed the thought aside and scanned the room.
The space was small enough to cross in a few steps. A thin mat laid crumpled near the center, darkened with unidentified stains.
On the floor beside it lay a body.
A young thin boy.
His ribs were visible under his colourless skin, lips cracked, eyes sunken and half-open. By the look of it, the boy was already dead, the foul putrid smell gave it away.
Fèi Míng held his breath and looked away, until a faint small sound cut the silence.
"Meow."
It came from the far end of the room, near a stack of broken crates. He turned his head and saw a small ginger kitten crawl into view.
Its ribs showed under its patchy fur. One eye was crusted shut. It dragged a hind leg slightly as it moved, stopping only when it reached his sandals.
It pressed its head against him and mewled hoarsely again.
"Go away, kitty. I have no food to give," he whispered.
Outside, voices passed by, their boots splashing through shallow dirty water. "Find him! He couldn't have gone far. Lu Yuan wants his eyes and head intact!" then it faded as the search shifted farther down the block.
Fèi Míng lowered his gaze to the kitten and made a decision.
He needed answers, and he needed them now. If his calculations were wrong, better to find out here than later when he had no cover.
He raised his hand.
Ding!
[Item: 'S-tier Carnival Game Core' is being taken from your inventory.]
The core materialized into his hand, its surface swirling red and white in constant motion. The sight drew his focus despite himself. He steadied his breathing, opened his mouth, and swallowed it whole.
'It's sweet.'
'It's getting too sweet. I—"
Seconds later, he gagged. The sweetness overwhelmed his senses, suffocating him, forcing his throat to spasm till he doubled over, retching a sticky saliva mess onto the floor in heaving gasps.
[ERROR!]
[A Harmful Substance Has Infiltrated Your System!]
A sharp pain tore through his abdomen. His knees struck the floor as his body convulsed.
He gagged again, trying his best not to cough as the heat flooded his chest and throat.
Slowly, blood streamed from the corners of his eyes, blurring his vision.
'Calm down, Fateless. You can't die here. Panic solves nothing. Panic solves nothing.'
Vomit it out.
He forced his mouth open with shaking fingers, reaching deep, ignoring the retching, and dragged the core back up.
It slid free in a rush of bile and blood, striking the floor with a dull bounce before rolling into a shallow puddle of filth.
He collapsed onto his side, chest heaving. 'It's out. It's out.'
So it was not compatible.
This made sense. Neither his Path nor his body was designed to absorb Game cores. Human cores had integrated cleanly. This had not. That narrowed the possibilities more than he liked.
Another "meow" of the kitten drew his attention.
It had crawled toward the core.
It sniffed it once, then licked the surface. The swirling red deepened, losing its pale streaks.
Fèi Míng wanted to move, nudge the kitten away and take his prize back. But the pain still circulating in his body forced him down and unable to move.
All he could do for now was to watch the kitten eat the very thing he vomited out.
The kitten bit down, and swallowed fragments of the condensed essence.
Fèi Míng then pushed himself up onto one elbow, vision still swimming.
The kitten finished the last of it and sat there, tail flicking weakly. It looked at him, eyes clear now, and let out a quiet meow.
Fèi Míng stared at it in silence. "Never in my life have I had the intention to kill a cat more than I have now."
The kitten inclined its head. "Meow?"